


The Sky Above You

by wowbright



Series: Glee Season 6 Episode Reactions [4]
Category: Glee
Genre: Episode Related, Episode: So6e05 The Hurt Locker Part 2, Friendship, Gen, Hummelberry Friendship, M/M, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Relationship(s), kelliott friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-13
Updated: 2015-02-13
Packaged: 2018-03-12 06:29:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3347012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wowbright/pseuds/wowbright
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After getting out of the elevator, Kurt needs his friends more than he expects. A phone conversation with Elliott ensues, and Elliott learns that Lima really is one whacked-out place. Takes place after Invitationals in 6.05, “The Hurt Locker Part 2.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sky Above You

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [a conversation](http://istytehcrawk.tumblr.com/post/109933992767/so-ive-been-thinking-who-would-kurt-want-to-talk) among @istytehcrawk, [scout451](http://tmblr.co/mlImncBHLSbNkKmWRPpb0nQ), and @[letshaveagleeki](http://letshaveagleeki.tumblr.com/). Companion fic to [What Tomorrow Could Bring](http://wowbright.tumblr.com/post/110223728120/fic-what-tomorrow-could-bring-blaine-kurt-pg) (Blaine POV 6.05 reaction fic). Thanks: To [likearumchocolatesouffle](http://tmblr.co/mPoZOu3PQHgs3w55Ws5AZJw) and [chiasmuslovesme](http://tmblr.co/m_BuVSD2BFzleXckNpa886g) for major handholding and basically telling me how to wrap the whole thing up. And to [judearaya](http://tmblr.co/mKSSjzs1Pyy6PEjMmy3oqGg) for cheerleading and clean-up duty.
> 
> Also on [tumblr.](http://wowbright.tumblr.com/post/110925736150/fic-the-sky-above-you-kurt-centric-klaine)

 

Kurt doesn’t get to talk much with Blaine after Invitationals. They’re both so busy with their students – and that’s how it should be, of course. They’re teachers now. They need to focus on the kids; they can’t spend every minute of the day in self-absorbed worry and talk.

By the time the students have dissipated, Blaine is gone, too, so Kurt doesn't get a chance to suss him out, to confirm that everything Kurt felt in that kiss – pent-up months of longing, regret over not being able to let the little things go, promises to do better and, most of all y _ou're still the one I'm looking for –_  was felt by Blaine, too. 

Not that it matters. Their lives have moved on. The best Kurt can hope for right now is reconciliation and, if he's lucky, a pale shadow of the friendship they once had. Because Blaine will soon be home, Karofsky greeting him with a kiss and a “How did Invitationals go, BooBoo?” and Blaine will say, “They could have gone better, Yogi,” and he’ll tell Karofsky about the 24 hours in the elevator and Karofsky will be suspicious and Blaine will buckle under that suspiscion. He'll tell Dave about the kiss that wasn’t supposed to mean anything, and he won't tell him that it meant something anyway. 

Karofsky will go, “That must have been awful, BooBoo,” and wrap his arms more tightly around Blaine in that possessive way he has. And Blaine will say, “Don’t worry, Yogi. I can't go back to him.” They’ll go to bed under the coverlet that Kurt used to share with Blaine, and they’ll do a bunch of things Kurt doesn’t want to think about, and afterward Blaine will say, “You don’t have to worry about me leaving you for him, Yogi. I used to think that Kurt and I were soulmates. But soulmates don't hurt each other the way he hurt me. I think fate was using him to bring me to you.”

Kurt is so lost in these thoughts that he startles when Rachel touches him on the shoulder. “Kurt,” she says. “I’ve said your name three times.”

“Sorry.” Kurt shakes his thoughts away. “I was … I’m really tired. An elevator floor isn’t exactly the most restful place to sleep.”

“I got so excited about our win that I forgot all about that,” she says, abashed. “Are you too tired to drive? I could take you home. We can leave your car in the teacher’s lot, and I’ll pick you up tomorrow for work.”

“Thanks. That would be great,” Kurt says, and he means it. It’s just what he needs right now, someone to care for him.

He needs it more than he’s willing to admit.

To his surprise, she doesn’t pry into what happened in the elevator. She tells Kurt about calling the police. She asks him about pressing charges. But she doesn’t ask him what it was like to be in such an intimate space with Blaine for 24 hours. She doesn’t ask if it made Kurt’s heart ache or if it made Blaine finally see the light. She simply says, when they arrive in front of Kurt’s house, “That must have been overwhelming. Let me know if you want to talk about it sometime.”

He reaches across the cup holders and takes her hand. “I don’t know if I will. But thanks.”

* * *

He leaves a note in the kitchen for Carole, telling her he’s had a tiring day and not to wake him if she gets home early, although he’s pretty sure she has the night shift again. He knows for certain she had the night shift last night, which is a relief because that means she wouldn’t have noticed he was gone. And since his dad is in D.C., for all they know it’s been another normal 24 hours in the life of Kurt Hummel. He’s glad of that. The last thing they need is to worry about losing another son.

* * *

When Kurt wakes up, it’s already dark outside. He’s not sure what time it is because his phone is still off, sucking in a charge from the outlet next to his bed. He turns it on to find it fully charged, the clock on it declaring “7:33 pm” and a stream of text notifications waiting to be read.

Most of them are from when he was trapped in the elevator and are variations on the theme of “Where are you?” He deletes them.

But there’s also one from Elliott, time-stamped from earlier today:

 

>   
> **Elliott:** Hey stranger! You never told me how Invitationals went.

Kurt goes down into the kitchen to make himself a sandwich.

 

>   
> **Kurt:** That’s because they only wrapped up today. (Long story.) But the good news is… My kids won!
> 
> **Elliott:** Congratulations! You must be very proud of them.
> 
> **Kurt:** Emphasis on “them.” I had nothing to do with it.
> 
> **Elliott:** And so modest too! Don’t make that a habit, it will never serve you well in New York.
> 
> **Kurt:** I’m not being modest. Really, I had very little to do with it. But that’s another long story.

Kurt’s phone is silent for a while. He eats his sandwich and looks at updates on the New Directions’ Instagrams; they’re all so cute and happy with their trophy and their blue costumes. Kurt makes a mental note to wear that shade of blue more often: It’s like the eastern sky on a clear summer day when the sun has moved down from its apex toward sunset.

 

>   
> **Elliott:** And it wasn’t too weird competing against Blaine? I know you were a little nervous about that.

Kurt squinches his face at the phone. He’s been wearing his heart on his sleeve so much lately. He ought to be careful about that.

He clears the table and loads his dishes in the washer as he thinks about what to text next.

 

>   
> **Kurt:** Whatever gave you that idea?
> 
> **Elliott:** Don’t try to play that game with me, dear. You’re the one who sent me selfies of you in a dozen different outfits the night before Invitationals. I believe your exact words were, “Which one makes me most irresistible?”

Kurt would kick himself for being such an open book, but he’s on his way back up the stairs and doesn’t want to trip.

 

>   
> **Kurt:** That was for my date with Walter.
> 
> **Elliott:** You mean the guy you’re “taking things super-slow with because you’re not sure how you would feel about making out with someone older than your dad even if he is sort of cute for his age”?
> 
> **Kurt:** Note to self: Stop making friends with people who remember what I say.
> 
> **Elliott:** So, back to Blaine. Are you guys doing okay now? Or was it still weird at Invitationals?

Kurt goes into his room and sits down at his mother’s old vanity. He takes her old engagement ring out of the jewelry box and slips it on his pinky finger, twisting it so that the light from his lamp catches in the tiny diamond and scatters through it.

 

>   
> **Kurt:** There was weirdness. But not at Invitationals per se.
> 
> **Elliott:** I’m not following you.
> 
> **Kurt:** Another long story. Too long to text. I guess I’ll have to tell you about it some other time.

Knowing Elliott, he’s probably dashing from trapeze yoga to band practice, and after that has some performance art piece to work on. Which is good, because that means that Kurt will never have to tell him the whole story. And if Kurt never talks about what happened in the elevator, it’s not really real and he never has to deal with it.

 

>   
> **Elliott:** My only plan for tonight was to sew another pair of sequined leggings, but I’ve already got one for every day of the week, so that can wait. I’ll give you a call.

Kurt starts to text “wait,” but the phone rings before he can hit _send_. He takes a deep breath. He has two options: tell Elliott he’s too busy to talk (he should probably start planning the setlist for New Directions’ next competition, right?) or tell him the entire sordid story.

_You need to talk about this with someone. And Elliott has a good head on his shoulders. Maybe it will help._

Kurt picks up the phone. “How convenient. I have the entire evening free, too.”

“Good,” Elliott says chipperly. “Because I just scrolled back through our conversation and realized that you alluded to ‘long stories’ three times. so I’m just going to make myself a cup of tea, sit back in my favorite armchair –”

“The vintage brown leather one with the brass studs? I miss that chair.”

“Okay, I’ll leave that chair for you. I’ll sit on the loveseat.”

Kurt laughs. “Sit in whatever chair you want. I’m in Lima. We have armchairs here, too.”

“But you’re not sitting in one, are you?”

Kurt looks over his shoulder to scan his bedroom for drones. Wait – Elliott’s not like Sue. He wouldn’t have spy cameras in Kurt’s bedroom. ( _Oh god, has Sue put spy cameras in my bedroom? I didn’t even think of that. Oh my god. What if she’s had one in here ever since she found out about the spy camera I put in her office during the whole Olivia Newton-John debacle? Shit._ Kurt resolves to sleep at Rachel’s tonight.) “How did you know?” Kurt opens the jewelry box again to check for a hidden camera. No dice.

“You told me when you get stressed out, you like to sit at your mother’s old vanity by the window.”

“You have a really good memory. And that’s exactly where I am.” Kurt would be touched by how sweet it is that his friend remembered that detail, but he’s too busy scanning the room for out-of-place objects to notice. “But not for long. I think I need to go for a walk, if you don’t mind.”

“Can I come with you?” Elliott says.

“That’s the idea.” Kurt bounds out the bedroom and down the stairs two at a time, grabbing his coat from the rack by the front door. He’s in such a hurry to leave the possibly-bugged premises that he doesn’t start putting it on until he’s halfway down the sidewalk. “I don’t even know where to begin, Elliott.”

“Well, from my end of the conversation, it looks like the long story had something to do with Invitationals? And Blaine? You could start there.”

“Okay. So I missed most of Invitationals because…” _Because my former cheerleading coach and the now-principal of my school locked me and Blaine in an elevator with a terrifying, sex-crazed puppet._ Okay, that sounds weird even for someone as cosmopolitan as Elliott. “You remember me telling you about my old cheerleading coach, right?”

“Sue Sylvester? Yeah, I knew about her before I even met you because her weirdo campaign ads against your dad went viral, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I forgot about that.”

“And then you also showed us those other videos. Kind of hard to forget.”

Ah, yes. Kurt remembers now, getting drunk with Elliott and Dani one evening after One Three Hill practice and trying to explain to them how overpowering a presence Sue Sylvester had over the life of every young person in Lima. He showed them the video she made with Olivia Newton John, the Madonna one she made thanks to Kurt and Mercedes, and every “How Sue C’s It” segment he could find on YouTube.

“I kind of wish I’d been in New York for Rachel’s opening of _Funny Girl_ ,” Elliott says. “I would have gotten to meet _the_ Sue Sylvester in person. I bet she’s even loonier in real life.”

“She is, trust me,” Kurt says. “She gets these obsessions and refuses to give up until she’s had her way.”

“The way you do?”

“Ha, ha,” Kurt says drily. “Maybe if I was a psychopath. My obsessions are normal things like being on Broadway and starting my own men’s fashion line by the age of 28 and becoming the youngest ever CEO of Logo TV. They’re creative. Hers are mostly about destroying things, like my dad’s chances at office or the McKinley High School Glee Club. Though I guess her latest one doesn’t completely fit that bill.”

“And what’s her latest obsession? I’m guessing it has something to do with you missing Invitationals?”

“I’m not sure how to say this without sounding like a delusional narcissist.”

“Oh my God,” Elliott says slowly. “Don’t tell me she’s in love with you. Or she wants you to be the father of her next child?”

Kurt flinches so hard at the image that he almost trips backward on the sidewalk. “Wow. Those are both horrifying thoughts. And what she’s actually obsessed with doesn’t seem so weird in comparison to those.”

“Well, I’m glad I could put things into perspective. So what does she want?”

“She’s become obsessed with getting me and Blaine back together.”

“What?” Elliott says, a laugh more than a word. “Why does your principal care about that?”

Kurt rolls his eyes. “Eh, something about the world needing the beauty of sweet, intoxicating man-love.”

Elliott starts coughing at the other end of the line. “Sorry.” He hacks again. “I started to swallow some tea right before you said that. Clearly bad timing on my part.”

“My fault. I should have warned you. But honestly, I don’t know why she doesn’t just read fanfiction and watch gay porn like the rest of the women who need that kind of thing in their lives. I don’t know why it all has to be about me and Blaine.”

Elliott’s cough turns into a chuckle. “Men, too.”

“Wait, what?”

“Men read slash fanfiction and watch gay porn, too. But I digress. Sue Sylvester is meddling in your life. That’s the important thing. Tell me more.”

Kurt’s pace slows. Where does he begin? It’s all so unbelievable. If it hadn’t happened to him, he would have shrugged it off as the script of an absurdist dark comedy.

Kurt stops in front of a tiny orange house with watermelon-green shutters and leans against a lamppost. “Are you done swallowing for a while? Because you might need to take a break for this next part.”

“I am putting the tea down as we speak.”

“She shut me and Blaine in a fake elevator yesterday. We only got out today. That’s why I missed most of Invitationals.”

“W-w-whaaaa? Nonono. I mean –” Elliott clears his throat. “Whoa. That’s certifiably insane. And criminal. Did anyone call the police?”

“The police were called, but they didn’t find us.”

“Are you okay? Did you go see a doctor? Dehydration can be very serious.”

Kurt feels an odd warmth in his chest. As kind as Rachel was about the whole thing, she didn’t ask him about his physical well-being. Maybe it’s a Lima thing – assuming that if you get out of something in one piece, you must be okay. And Kurt was still standing after the ordeal, so he must be okay, right?

Even Kurt wanted to believe it was true.

“There was plenty of food,” Kurt says. “It was better than what I eat most days, actually. And there was a bathroom attached to the fake elevator. So we were fine on the physical front.”

“Huh. So she had the planning down. I wonder if she’s kidnapped people before.”

“That _would_ explain a few things. The bathroom was a little dingy, but it had little matching purple toothbrushes and cups, and these nice linen handtowels embroidered with the word _Klaine._ I would have taken one with me when she let us out if it hadn’t been for the whole, you know, kidnapping thing.”

“Wait. Did I hear you right? It sounded like you said ‘Klaine.’”

“I did.” Kurt chews on his lower lip. Even the details of his life that he’s always taken for granted are unusual outside of Lima. “It’s this thing people do here– mash the names of a couple together. So ‘Kurt’ plus ‘Blaine’ equals ‘Klaine.’”

“Wow. I haven’t heard anybody do that since Benifer.”

“Well, Lima never really moved into the modern age.”

“Okay, so what – she locked you guys in a well-equipped elevator for 24 hours and just expected that the ordeal would bring you closer together?”

Kurt straightens up from the lamppost and starts walking again. He can’t say what he needs to say next while standing still. “It was more calculated than that. She wouldn’t let us leave until we kissed.”

“That’s … pretty twisted.”

“I thought so, too.” Kurt’s pace quickens. “That’s why we refused for the first 24 hours.”

“I’m impressed by your stamina. I probably would have just kissed him.”

“Well, we _did_ try to get out early on by giving each other a little air kiss, but she said that wasn’t good enough. I think she was looking for tongue.” _And we gave it to her. Goddammit._ Kurt winces at the thought.

“Okay. I definitely need to have a talk with this lady. There are healthy outlets for her obsessions, but this is not one of them.”

Kurt’s posture deflates; his pace slows to a slow stroll. “I hate to say it, but most of the time in the elevator really wasn’t that bad. I sort of enjoyed it, which feels – sick, you know? Like I was giving her what she wanted.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over making the best out of a bad situation. We all do what we have to to get through hard times.”

“I guess.” Kurt shrugs. “But I wasn’t even trying to make the best out of it. It was ... fun on its own just to hang out with Blaine again. It was almost like – like before we started dating and would spend hours on the get-to-know-you talks. You know what I mean, right? When you first meet someone and you don’t know all the little quirks that are eventually going to drive you nuts, and you just enjoy them and are fascinated by every adorable thing they say?”

“I know the feeling.”

Kurt sighs. “That’s what it felt like, most of the time we were in there. I wasn’t thinking of him as the guy who fucks up the apartment’s feng shui with his office furniture, and he wasn’t thinking of me as the cretin who wipes toothpaste on the bathroom towel. It was just … me and Blaine. It was nice.”

Elliott doesn’t say anything for a moment. In the silence, the warm, comforting feeling of being near Blaine grows. Kurt’s heart beats a little faster. He looks up at the sky. It’s too bright from the streetlights to see much, but he can see Orion. He wonders if Blaine is looking up at the stars right now, too.

“So, what’s that mean?” Elliott’s voice breaks through Kurt’s reverie. “Are you guys friends again?”

“I don’t know,” Kurt says. “When we finally kissed … It didn’t feel like we were just friends. And I don’t think that had anything to do with the tadalafil that Sue misted into the room.”

“Tadalafil? That sounds like rat poison.”

“No, it’s ... it’s not poison. But let’s not talk about that right now. The point is –” Kurt swallows heavily. “I’m not over Blaine. Not at all.”

“Oh, Kurt.”

“And it makes me so mad, because I was finally moving on. We both were.” Kurt waves his free hand around animatedly as he speaks, using it to hammer home each word. “Blaine has a boyfriend – a boyfriend who I really can’t stand, but a boyfriend still – and I’m dating this charming, funny guy – I swear, Walter is the _first friend_ I’ve ever had who understands how perfect _The Golden Girls_ is –”

“I wonder why,” Elliot interjects with only a little bite.

“And he’s attractive, too. I’ve told you how his profile picture looks a lot like Perseus from the first _Clash of the Titans._ Super dreamy.”

“Isn’t that picture from 30 years ago?”

“Yes, but he still has the same eyes, and – And anyway, that’s not my point. My point is that I’m moving on. I’m dating other guys, and they can be just as charming as Blaine.” Kurt’s practically marching up the sidewalk now, like he’s on a mission. And maybe he is: on a mission to convince Elliott of what needs to be true, and on a mission to convince himself, too. “And maybe not every guy I date will turn out to be, but that’s okay, because I’m young and I should be out sowing my wild oats and –”

“How many oats have you sown lately?” Elliott says with a calmness Kurt finds exasperating.

“I refuse to answer that question.”

“I’m only asking because –” Elliott hesitates – which is odd for Elliott. He only hesitates when he’s worried about being undiplomatic, and Elliott’s hardly ever worried about that. “Just, you don’t strike me as the sowing wild oats type.”

“I like sex as much as the next person!” Kurt suddenly realizes he’s said that _very loudly_ on a residential Lima street. He looks around at the nearby houses, but finds no one leering at him from between their blinds.

“That’s not what I meant. I just meant that … you’re a romantic. Monogamy is important to you. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

Kurt feels suddenly woozy. He steps to the edge of the sidewalk and sits down on the curb. “You don’t understand,” he says. “There’s _everything_ wrong with that, Elliott.” The tears rise fast in Kurt’s throat, threatening to choke him. “What if I’m hopelessly monogamous? What if Blaine’s _it_ for me, and I never get over him, and –” He sobs – an ugly, strangling sob that comes out too fast to muffle from Elliott.

“Oh, honey.”

“And it doesn’t matter what I felt when he kissed me, it doesn’t matter that I know he felt the same thing, too, because – because when it was over he had the most horrified look on his face, like he’d just made the biggest mistake of his life, and … I knew it then, Elliott. He’s never going to take me back. Not after what I did to him. It’s … it’s unforgivable, what I did.”

“Kurt , it’s not –”

“No, it _is_. I always thought that cheating was the worst thing. I lorded _that_ over Blaine’s head all the time because _I_ would never do _that,_ I would never betray someone like that, but – I _did_ , Elliott. I promised him I’d love him through thick and thin, I promised him I would never give up on him, I’d never give up on _us –_ and then I gave up. That’s what real betrayal is.” Kurt wipes his nose against the back of his sleeve. “I don’t know why I even came back to Lima, Elliott. The gall I had, thinking I could get him to forgive me. I should fly back to New York tomorrow.”

“Kurt, you’re in love with him. It’s not gall. It’s hope.”

“Then hope is idiotic. I need to stop hoping. Hope was what Blaine and I ran on for most of our relationship, just wishing and hoping that our problems would disappear and that we weren’t too young and –”

“Kurt, honey, I’m gonna stop you right there.” Elliott’s tone has made an abrupt change from mother hen to viper. It’s the same tone of voice Elliott used to use with Rachel and Santana when they used to start sniping with each other during band rehearsals. “You’re descending into self-pity territory.”

Kurt braces his body for a fight. “It’s not self-pity. It’s the hard truth. I just never wanted to face it. We were so naive, Elliott, thinking that young love could last, that we could just get married at 22 and grow old together and –”

“No, Kurt. No,” Elliott says. Kurt can practically see Elliott shaking his head on the other end of the line. “Your age isn’t the reason your guys’ relationship fell apart.”

Kurt’s fist clenches. “No? Tell me then, Dear Prudence. What was it?”

“You guys are both kind of control freaks.” Elliott has the gall to sound amused as he says it.

Kurt whips the phone away from his ear. His face is hot and he’s seeing red and his arm is vibrating with the desire to chuck the phone across the street. But he can’t afford a new phone right now. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, lifts the phone back up to his ear. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t hang up on you right now.”

“Because I love you.” Elliott still has that amused tone in his voice. He’s refusing to engage, refusing to argue. It’s infuriating.

“Blaine loved me, and I _dumped_ him,” Kurt says bitterly. “Hanging up on someone is nothing compared to that.”

“Fine, then. How about because this is something you need to hear?”

“I need to hear you insult me?” Kurt tries to say it angrily, but the wind’s been knocked out of his sails. It comes out sort of pathetic and sincere, instead.

“No. You need to hear that your breakup wasn’t inevitable. Because as long as you keep believing that, you’re going to believe that you don’t have any role to play in making your future relationships work either. And that attitude is poison, Kurt, whether you end up with Blaine or Walter or some other guy.”

“You think we broke up because I’m a control freak.”

“No, I think you guys broke up because you’re _both_ control freaks. Remember the big fight to end all fights? The one you told me about after you broke up with Blaine?”

“You mean the one about the towel?”

“Yes, the one about the toothpaste and the towel. I didn’t say anything then, because you’d already broken up with him and I didn’t see what the point was. But since you’re still hung up on why you broke up, I think it’s appropriate for me to give you my perspective. If I remember correctly, Blaine was angry because you would wipe your mouth on the towel when it still had toothpaste on it, and you were angry because you bought the towel before he moved in and thought you should be able to use it how you wanted.”

“Yes.”

“So, the thing that I didn’t get was how you guys could argue about this for three hours without it occurring to either of you to just get two towels, one for each of you.”

Kurt suddenly understands where this line of thought is going. He’s ashamed to speak the next words. “We did that for a while, but I asked Blaine to get rid of his because it was argyle and didn’t really go with the rest of the decor.”

“And I’m going to venture that for Blaine, it was about showing you that if you were going to insist on sharing a towel, you needed to follow his whitebread rules for doing it.”

“Oh god. We were really terrible for each other, weren’t we?”

“I wouldn’t say that. Sometimes you just didn’t make enough room for each other’s differences,” Elliott says softly.

“Maybe that’s because I didn’t want there to be any differences. We were supposed to be two Disney princes, perfectly suited for each other in every way,” Kurt sighs. “Finding each other and falling in love was supposed to be the hard part. Everything else was supposed to be ‘happily ever after.’”

“I don’t think life ever works that way, Kurt. Not even for people who are destined to be together.”

“Do you believe in destiny, Starchild?” Kurt uses the stage name because they’re talking about destiny, and destiny and the stars are intertwined in Kurt’s mind.

“I believe life is what we make of it. And I think relationships are, too. That’s why I had to say something. Because I don’t like hearing you talk about relationships like they’re destined to fail until you reach a certain age. There’s things you can do to make them better, if that’s what you want.”

“If I ever _learn_.”

“You have learned, though. Remember when Blaine first moved out of the loft?”

Kurt nods. “Yeah.”

“And how part of what set it off was that he moved the furniture around because he wanted to make an office space? And you freaked out because you felt like he was destroying all the work you’d done decorating your room?”

“Yeah.” Kurt kind of wishes he didn’t remember it, though. It hurts to think about it, even now. Maybe _especially_ now, when Kurt’s hopes of getting Blaine back seem more unrealistic than ever before.

“The point is that once both of you had a chance to cool down and have some time away from each other, you figured out where to put the office furniture in a way that made you both happy.”

“If only we’d figured out the towels and the room dividers and the damn SodaStream machine, too.”

“Well, one thing at a time. The important thing is that you’re aware. And the other thing –”

“What?”

“The other thing is that being a control freak isn’t all bad. I mean, the more I learn about what living in Lima is like, the more I understand why both of you want to be in charge of your environment. Lima sounds like total chaos. Like, when you’re dealing with Sue Sylvester, being able to take charge of a situation must come in really handy.”

“I sure didn’t feel in charge of anything in the elevator.”

“You were in charge of how you reacted. You could have spent the whole time bickering with Blaine, but it sounds like you didn’t do that.”

“No, we didn’t. Like I said, it was a little piece of paradise. I don’t understand how we did it, actually.”

“Because I think you know deep down inside that it doesn’t help to get all hardass on him when he’s not the person you’re angry with. And I think he gets that, too. Maybe you guys just needed this time apart to learn that.”

“You make it sound like there’s a possibility that we’ll get back together.”

“I wouldn’t say never. But even if you don’t, you might as well learn something from your relationship with Blaine, right? That way, you won’t go into your next relationship thinking it’s doomed from the start because you’re too young to know anything.”

“I guess. I just wish –” Kurt fades off, not sure how to put what he’s feeling into words.

“What?”

Kurt decides to try, anyway. “I just wish I could have another chance with him. I feel like … I feel like I’ve grown up a lot since we broke up. Or like … I’m ready to grow up. With _him_. I was … I was afraid to, before. I don’t even know all the reasons why. But I was.”

“Sometimes it’s hard to know what’s going on in your own head. That’s one of the reasons I keep friends around – to explain myself to me when I don’t understand.”

Kurt laughs. “Well, let me know when you need me to explain you to yourself. I have a lot of theories about your hat collection.”

“Do you, now?” Elliott’s smile is audible.

“Yes, but I’ll keep them to myself until you really need them.”  Kurt stands up from the curb. “But seriously, thanks. I feel a lot better about the whole thing, even if it’s not the way I want it to be.”

“I’m glad. I don’t like to get all preachy on my friends, but sometimes it must be done.”

“You made the right call.”

“So, are you going to be okay tonight? Do you want me to check in with you?”

“I think I’ll be okay. I’m going to see if I can stay over at Rachel’s for the company.” Kurt doesn’t mention his suspicions about spycameras. He doesn’t want Elliott to feel like he needs to fly out to help in the dismantling of Kurt’s bedroom.

“Okay. Say hi to her for me.”

“I will.”

Kurt hangs up the phone and sends a text to Rachel.

 

>   
> **Kurt:** I went for a walk tonight and I’m close to your house. Mind if I visit? Maybe sleep over?
> 
> **Rachel:** Slumber party! Can we watch Twilight _?_
> 
> **Kurt:** I was thinking I would tell you about my 24 hours in the elevator.
> 
> **Rachel:** Definitely! You always come before Robert Pattinson. I’ll get out the ice cream bowls. And the wine! Love you! See you soon!
> 
> **Kurt:** <3

Kurt puts the phone in his pocket and turns toward Rachel’s house. He’s felt so alone since the breakup – rattling around in the loft by himself, sleeping in a too-spacious bed, making meals for one instead of for a whole crew. Even after coming back to Lima and reconnecting with Rachel, the loneliness has dogged him. The house feels too big without Sam or Finn in it, and with Carole and Kurt’s dad both gone half the time.

And then Kurt got stuck in the elevator with Blaine, and for a few blissful moments during a game of Heads Up, he forgot what it was like to be lonely.

When he left the elevator, he was worried he’d never find that feeling of connection again.

But now he doesn’t feel alone at all.

**Author's Note:**

> I want to apologize in advance if I get behind in responding to comments. I love getting comments and value each one I get. It's just that lately I've had so little free time that I have to choose between things like (1) writing fic, (2) responding to comments, (3) eating. that I will respond to them eventually! I swear, sometimes I print comments out and hang them on my office wall, I love them that much.


End file.
